The Copybook

Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.

337

By Matthew Paris (1200-1259), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence Public domain.

The Battle of Assandun by Henry of Huntingdon

The invading Danes fought so fiercely that Edmund Ironside, the young English king, threw all caution to the wind.

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338

© Jakub T. Jankiewicz, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Duel of the Kings by Henry of Huntingdon

Edmund Ironside, King of England, and Cnut the Great, King of Denmark, fought hand-to-hand for one of European history’s richest purses.

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339

© Akoliasnikoff, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Murder of Edmund Ironside by Henry of Huntingdon

Edric’s treason handed the crown of England to Cnut the Great, but Cnut was not so poor a judge of character as to believe that a traitor could be trusted.

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340

From the studio of William Hoare (1707–1792), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Crimes of Mr Pitt by William Pitt the Elder

William Pitt was a rising star of British politics in 1741, so much so that Horace Walpole MP felt he needed his wings clipped — an operation fraught with peril.

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341

Attributed to Michael Lupi de Çandiu (fl. 1297-1305), via the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Imma’s Bonds by Clay Lane

Imma claimed to be a harmless peasant, but there was something about him that Ecgfrith, King of Northumbria, found downright uncanny.

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342

By an anonymous artist of the English School (1560s), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Queen of Arts by Thomas Fuller

Queen Elizabeth I’s quick thinking and command of five European languages made her a dangerous enemy in a war of words.

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© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

April 29 NS

April 16 OS

A Literary Mystery : In 1798, ‘Plays on the Passions’ appeared in London bookstores, but no one seemed to know who had written them.
Smile : Choose adjectives of praise for these nouns, at about the 7/10 level.
The Making of Mark : St Mark wrote his Gospel as a summary of the preaching of St Peter.
Zheng He and the Rise of Malacca : Malacca became a refuge from the overbearing empires of the Far East, thanks to a celebrated Chinese admiral.
Confusables : Compose sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between these words.
Jill and I : Include yourself in these sentences about Jill.
Saddled : Use these words in sentences, and see if you can use one of them as a verb.
Russia’s Heroic Stand : In 1941, with much of the West subdued, Adolf Hitler bent the full force of his hatred on Moscow.
Approachable : Replace the verb ‘can’ with these alternatives, and explain how the meaning of the sentence has changed.
The First Easter : In a translation from the Authorized Version of the Bible, published in 1611, St Mark recounts the discovery of Christ’s empty tomb.
A Collect for Easter Day : A short prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, for the day of Christ’s resurrection.
The Gambler : Which well-known expression is Dr Johnson talking about here?
If I Had But Two Little Wings : Samuel Taylor Coleridge holds on to those precious moments when loneliness is a problem for tomorrow.
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